Newport 2016: Zu Audio and Pass Labs travel to Oz

I kept opening one eye in the near blackness of the Zu Audio room at Newport Beach as I proceeded to click my heels together three times: but unlike Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I didn’t want to go home. I wanted the Ruby Slipper red Zu speakers in front of me to be transported back to my living room in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Zu founder Sean Casey said the finish was a one-off for a customer that his hard-working crew had been perfecting, and T.H.E. Show was the company’s chance to show off their skills. The Soul Supreme ($4,500 USD/pair *custom finish extra) stood there, beautifully illuminated by small spotlights in the darkness, and I have to say, they’re not only absolutely gorgeous to look at, they kicked my ass all over the room with their visceral punch, and slam. These are what I would call Rock ‘n Roll loudspeakers. Soul Supreme is a perfect name for them, because the sound being pumped out of these two-way floor standers was sweet, organic, balanced, and deeply authoritative.

Bringing jammy-mids to a whole new level.

Amplification duties were being handled on all fronts by Pass Labs, and the three-box XP-30 pre-amplifier, ($16,500 USD) and two-box XP-25 Phono ($10,600) were doing an intoxicating job of finessing the signal from the Zu Denon 103 Mk.II (approx. $549 USD) mounted on the vintageLuxman direct-drive PD444 turntable for the 30-watts/channel of pure Class-A power amplification that the XA30.8 ($6,500 USD) was throttling the Soul Supremes with. I’ve run the stock Denon 103 with its de-facto (in some circles) Step-up Transformer (SUT) – the A23 Denon SUT from Keith Aschenbrenner – into a tubed phono stage, and I gotta say, this was very reminiscent of that sound only with a bit less mid-range sweetness, and more texture. So, apparently you can have it both ways. Solid state continues to win me over on many fronts, as the tube/transistor lines got pretty blurry here. Bass as always with a properly set-up 103 was huge, and meaty.

Blast from the direct-drive past.

Pass Labs XA 30.8

Pass Labs pre-amp goodness

The whole kit

A mix of tunes were being played by Zu’s Gerrit Koer while I was in the room, and it didn’t seem to matter what was thrown at the Zu/Pass Labs matching, they just ran with it. Everything sounded tight, cohesive, dynamic-as-all-hell, and BIG. I can’t emphasize enough the scale this system could throw. These are not monster-sized speaker, they are normal-sized, and wouldn’t overwhelm any decor (well, in this color they might), so be prepared for high praise from how they present the music without breaking the bank if you end up with a pair. The fact that 30 watts was providing this much heft, and weight to the sound is only another reminder that Nelson Pass, and the crew at Pass Labs seem to really know what they are doing.

Gerrit Koer drops the needle.

The Zu Denon 103 Mk. II

In a world that can be an increasingly complex place for many audiophiles to find their way to some peace of sonic mind, without breaking the (serious hi-fi) bank, and with a nod to simplicity of circuit design, use, appearance, and single-mindedness to musicality, it’s impossible to not recognize the efforts of Zu Audio, and Pass Labs in this room.

7 Comments on Newport 2016: Zu Audio and Pass Labs travel to Oz

I differ with the comments about the sound of the Pass and the Soul’s, while ok, its was hard and fatiguing, bright and sterile.. no soul.. Yes I have a vested interest I produce the Whammerdyne amp and when I got back to the shop and fired my system up right after the show, I have Druid V’s I was “Home again” hearing the real Truth!, trust me on this.. The magic was back!, I’m confident I can put the Truth amp and the Druids up with most anything I heard at the show and most of you would be converts!

IMHO this was one of the best rooms at THE show. Great music and great sound! I’m in love with the Soul Supreme – the Zu speakers have a way of ‘disappearing’ and they always sound musical – if the recording is distorted the speakers just play the music with the distortion – they don’t set out to analyze the distortion in minute detail, like some (too many?) other systems do. Did I mention the great music? No trace of the usual audiophile c***!